Councilmembers offer mixed responses to proposed 2013 Troy budget

By Andrew Beam

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

TROY -- Mayor Lou Rosamilia's proposed 2013 budget has been released and councilmembers have been thumbing through the pages over the last couple of days, but the response from the legislative body is a bit mixed.

The bigger issues such as pay raises for the administration's appointees, the projections in revenue and some other issues have brought about questions from some of the councilmembers, forcing some to ask for more information to see how the administration arrived at some of the numbers in the budget.

If you ask Councilman Bob Doherty, D-District 4, he will tell you he sees Rosamilia's budget as a conservative approach and one that looks at the long term management of the city.

"I think the administration's approach to budgeting is an appropriate reaction to the reality of the environment," Doherty said. "I don't have any immediate concerns. I think it's a very good budget."

Ask other councilmembers, such as Councilman Dean Bodnar, R-District 3, and you'll get a more skeptical response as to how the administration arrived at some projections, such as the building and alterations budget line.

"I really want to see what the methodology was in calculating or projecting that we're going to have more than a 100 percent increase in building permits," Bodnar said. "That's a huge amount."

Councilman Rodney Wiltshire, D-At Large, said the figure jumped out at him while he was looking over the budget, but said he would be happy if the numbers were exact.

"That looks great, but I'd like to have a better idea of where that's coming from," Wiltshire said. "I hate to say that's wishful thinking."

City Spokesman Mike Fraser said there was a lot of detail and discussion that went into the projection and said the number was one the administration was confident one, citing the sale of the Dauchy and River Triangle buildings as part of some of the evidence behind the projection.

"We have had a very active second half of 2012," Fraser said. "Between now and throughout 2013 we will be finalizing and moving forward on a great deal of significant development."

Councilmembers Kevin McGrath, C-District 1, and Nina Nichols, D-At Large, both said they didn't see the projection as surprising, given the influx of recent new business coming into the city such as Bombers Burrito Bar, the Stoneledge Terrace Apartments and City Station.

"I think there is reason to be very excited about development opportunity in the City of Troy and it's thanks to the hard work by the Planning and Economic Development Department," Nichols said. "I think it is a realistic projection."

There were also other concerns regarding the sales tax revenue coming in from the County, which Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, said is a more of a hope by the administration, but a projection that might not be realistic.

"There are so many questions when balancing a budget on money you don't have," McGrath said. "It's very dangerous."

City Council President Lynn Kopka said the city reported during its 6 month update on annual receipts a total of $7.3 million in sales tax revenue. A figure she said could double and be close to the $15 million projection.

"Those are coming in higher than projected," Kopka said. "$15.25 million is probably a reasonable number."

Fraser said the projection was based off of data trends the City has seen over the years.

"We arrived at the figure based on a trend we'd seen across Rensselaer County over the past several years," Fraser said.

The other big topic was the pay increases to some of the administrations appointees such as the deputy mayor, the Planning and Economic Development commissioner and the deputy director of public information. Several council members said they would have to look into detail the work that has been done and if it deserves an increase.

"I'm certainly not against them but I would like to review them on a case by case basis if it is appropriate of reasonable," said Councilman Ken Zalewski, D-District 5.

McGrath questioned if the work done by the appointees actually warrants a raise, also adding it comes without any raises to those employees that are unionized.

Bodnar said it sends a message to some of those unionized employees but also noted the raises weren't significant. He said it is not an issue he has made his mind up on.

"If I am running a business and I had someone with me for eight years, that person makes more money than what they were offered at the start of the job," Bodnar said. "When that person leaves and you get a new person, I'm not going to pay the same amount of money. That has to factor into it when considering the validity."

Raises were proposed at the beginning of the year for these same appointees but were nixed as councilmembers expressed concern they weren't let into the reasons as to why they were happening. Fraser said the increases were withdrawn to respect the budgeting process.

"Some of these salaries were cut by the previous administration prior to leaving office and it was our intent to let the council know we'd be putting them in front of them for their approval for the upcoming budget," Fraser said. "We understand it's politically sensitive. These are commitments that were made and then withdrawn for 2012."

City Council President Lynn Kopka said she has a lot of questions for the administration regarding the budget, specifically some of the projections and the raises, but assured that she was doing her homework.

"We are collecting tons of background," Kopka said. "I really want to know why and how we got to the numbers we got to."